New Lotus E22 breaks cover in Bahrain

The Lotus E22 has made its first public outing of the season, taking to the track in Bahrain with Romain Grosjean at the wheel.

The car first ran at a private filming day at Jerez two weeks ago, but Wednesday morning was the first time it hit the track in front of rival teams and the media. It is the last of the 2014 cars to emerge after the team had to skip the opening test at Jerez to continue work at its factory.

After the problems its engine supplier Renault suffered in the opening week of testing, Lotus has not missed as much mileage as it might have feared, but it will still be playing catch-up with system checks and general debugging early on.

The E22 is instantly recognisable by its twin tusk nose, which is the team's novel approach to new regulations aimed at reducing the height of the tip of the nose. One tusk is slightly longer than the other and forms the crash structure, while the split nose design allows for airflow to the floor of the car.

The team starts its pre-season testing without a fixed team principal after Eric Boullier left for McLaren in January. Co-owner Gerard Lopez is currently in charge.